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Monday, May 31, 2010

This was the last card I could get done in time for the Inky challenge (make sure to scroll down and see all my cards!). I had decided to do a bunch of little cards so there was less work involved and, while sound in theory, I still just didn't have enough time. :( Alas, this card only used two stamp sets.

I wasn't sure I was pleased with this card, however, my mother genuinely liked it and so I'm content. :)

I tried 3 different ways to do the overhanging "fabric". I just realized that a basket of flowers would hardly have this feature! Oh well. The idea I ended up using was my first idea: black ink on Plum Pudding cardstock. I didn't even heat emboss it. Over the next couple of attempts, I discovered the heat embossing drew too much attention away from the flowers. which really should be the focal point. Idea #2: white embossing powder over the Plum Pudding. Idea #3: clear embossing powder over the Plum Pudding, which I then used white ink over, wiping the embossed lines clean afterwards (emboss-resist technique).

I ripped the patterned paper on the bottom so it sort of looks like grass. Not entirely sure it was successful.

InLinkz first card challenge! The agenda? Four colors and a theme: birthday boy. The colors I used are Papertrey's Spring Rain, Enchanted Evening and Orange Zest. I don't have my Simply Chartreuse supplies yet so I chose Memento Dewdrop Bamboo Leaves to achieve a similar green. The ribbon is Papertrey's New Leaf twill which doesn't quite match but oh well!

Jamie's Get Your Stamps Inky blog hop challenge! How many of us are so excited to get our Papertrey stamps only to let them sit on the shelf? I have tons and tons of stamp sets to initiate into the inky realm (thank goodness my May release stamps haven't arrived yet!) and this card gave me the opportunity to work with 7 sets!

The designer of this particular argyle background is one of my fav designers, Maile Belles (the stamp set was designed by Lisa Johnson). I was very excited about this argyle stamp set but very intimidated by the number of possibilities with it. I had no idea where to begin! Maile's argyle card was so breathtaking and the colors so similar, I knew it would be just the ticket to get me out of my argyle-stamp-phobia. I think I'm more confident in my ability to use this set now. ;)

It's difficult to tell, but there are crystal stickers over the headlights. I used a hole punch to get them the right size. I have to say that I'm not too fond of the orange car... Not sure why.

The tiny frog in the car was done using some masking (see below). I was very pleased with myself for thinking of this! ;)

The interior of the card:I just realized I could have used Simple Alphabet for the "rd" and scratched another set off of my list! I hand wrote it instead. Whoops!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

I made these cards a while ago, but missed getting photos of them until now. I've recently been going through my scrap box more often and I came across scraps from a previous color challenge. I had a lot of scraps from that card plus more paper, so why not use the same colors for a different design! I made four cards like this one.

I just love the flower patterned paper. I guess I just love paper. The melon colored Spellbinders Square is embossed with Cuttlebug's Floral Screen folder before using the square die as to allow the edge to be flattened when embossed with the Spellbinder die frame.

The sunset orange and melon strips at the bottom were bordered using Martha Stewart border punches. I still have some smaller scraps of these papers left, but most of them have been used. This can be used as a friendship, Thank You, or Thinking of You card.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

This card was made from scraps leftover from this card. I got the basic idea from Nichole's set here.The idea for the twine flower is from Maile here.It's difficult to tell, but the score lines border the entire sentiment. I love my Scor-Pal and I love how this looks!!The interior of the card is such a surprising pop when you open it. I love it!

Friday, May 28, 2010

It's too late to enter this into Papertrey's blog hop this month (which was all about felt!) but I'm still anxious to show it off!I can't recall where I first saw this flower done. I've looked over the blogs where I thought I saw it (Betsy Veldman, Dawn McVey, Maile Belles) but couldn't find it... Perhaps it was on the Papercrafts blog? I apologize!! Regardless, I was anxious to try it and voila! I made my flower base a different color than the "petals" and I'm rather pleased with how it turned out with the leaves! The flower is simply 5 die cut scalloped flowers/circles that have been folded (4) and adhere (using hot glue) to the base (1). To do this again, I would do the 4 inner flowers one size smaller than the base flower.I hand-stitched some twine between the patterned paper and felt border for a very unique effect! After some trial and error, I found this to be the best method:

Adhere the felt to the patterned paper, keeping the adhesive below the piercing line.

Mark on the paper with a pencil where you will pierce it in relation to the scalloped felt.

Pierce felt in the center of each scallop and on the paper marks.

Stitch twine on the diagonal going one direction only.

Stitch your way back using the same method. This prevents a line of twine being seen from between the scallops!

Tape ends to back of paper.

The patterned paper is adhered with dimensional adhesive (foam tape) on the bottom and the felt at the top is adhered using Scor-Tape. The dimension of the felt and twine was enough to keep it on par with the foam.

I thought of dressing up the patterned paper strip on the bottom somehow. The space in between the 4 green points looked naked. After consulting with my crew, however, I decided to leave it as is. It's great having creative consultation!!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

I have five granddaughters under the age of 8, and with the birthdays all coming between June and the mid September, I decided to create them all at the same time. I still need to come up with a couple that are a little different as I don't want sisters to each be given the same card. You will see three in this photo, but I just completed 6 more. The extras will be to sell to anyone who may want a bright cheerful little girl cards. I may even consider this card for a class as it is not too complicated or time-consuming to construct.

I used a Hero Arts Cling Three Flowers Stamp set (the largest flower) on bright patterned papers and cut them out (2 per Flower - one on the white cardstock, and the second popped up using foam tape.. For the flowers I used copics to darken the flower center and add some dimension. Rhinestones are used to embellish. Using a paper & ribbon slot punch set I hammered ribbon slits into the sides of the white and blue layer.

I am going to change the tag I made for the one card because it just doesn't seem right. And if I like it, I'll make the same for the others.

This second image is blurry, but I decided to include it so that you can see the layers popped up with foam tape.

Now I just need to make my one and only grandson a card who has his birthday in the same time period as all my granddaughters.It is kind of interesting that all six of my grandchildren have their birthdays between June and mid September.

My oldest nephew and his wife have a baby girl due yesterday - any day, and when I checked out the new sketch on 2S4Y, I just loved it. I again went to my scrap paper box and came up with this light and airy little baby girl card. Cream, beige & kraft, and light pink are the colors of choice here, creating a clean, simple, light, and airy card befitting the new life of a little girl.

It will be my sister's first grandchild, and she is sitting on pins and needles waiting.My nephew is going to school to become a Dentist, so life will indeed be interesting for them now with their first addition in starting their family.

Any way, back to the card. The PTI sentiment is gold heat embossed and the pink and cream butterfly is also heat embossed. I am still contemplating putting some pearls on the card, but in my indecision, I came to the conclusion to just go ahead and send it as it is since I can't make up my mind.

Thank You Kazan for the wonderful sketch that enabled me to create this card. It was a nice change of pace to just use the paper trimmer.

My oldest son will be turning 30 the beginning of July, and in going through my scrap paper box, I came across these papers that triggered the design for his card. It is very simple, but masculine, and I like the color combination which is a little differrent.

The card base is a very dark brown, then the khaki green and cream layers, followed by the architecture drawing on blue. The Spellbinders Tag is stamped with brown ink and two rows of ribbon fed through the tag.And guess what? No foam tape! I've been using that a lot in the past few projects, but not here. I have to mail it.

Very manly, don't you think? I know that he will like this. I'll have to send this along with his Father's Day card as these two special days are separated only by a couple of weeks. Since I live in Calgary and he lives in Phoenix, the mail will take a little time, so might as well send them at the same time.

It is a bit early to be making a Thanksgiving card, but in looking toward future classes and coming across these colors in my scrap paper box, I decided to experiment for a future card. I love the card, but decided against it as it takes quite a while to cut out the leaves, and we don't have enough time in the class to do that

I saw this kind of bow done on a few different blogs a while back and thought that with the many points of the Maple leaves that this kid of bow would look somewhat like a Maple leaf.

Well,I guess I will have to come up with an easier card to make for Thanksgiving, but now I have one already when the time comes to make more.

I can't forget my only grandson's birthday! A previous posting shows the cards I made for my Granddaughters, and my grandson's birthday is in the same time frame as theirs at the end of August. He just loves green. It's his favorite color right now. It reminds me of my youngest son who also loved green while he grew up. I don't know if it still is his favorite color. I should ask him.
When I came across Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #114 in my weekly challenge search I knew that this sketch would be perfect for Taylor's card.

I have to admit that I had planned to have the notched paper go in the same direction as the sketch, but when I cut the notch I wasn't paying attention and cut it on the wrong end. I didn't want the little cars to be upside down and since I was making four of these cards ( 3 without the number on the car), I didn't want to cut all the strips of paper again so used what I had cut.
Taylor loves to play with his cars, trains, and airplanes/helicopters so when I came across this paper by Doodlebug, I just had to get it for his card.
I use Spellbinders Pinking Circles and Standard Circles. The PTI VW Bug stamp I stamped with Versa Magic Magic Red over the black stamped outline, and heat embossed it with clear powder. This gave the car a shiny new car look. I cut out the window so that you could see the clouds on the background paper. I then stamped the 5 (as he is turning five), heat embossed it and with the second smallest Spellbinders Standard Circles. The pinking circle is foam tape backed, popping it out from the card.
Thanks TESC for your sketch!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Many of the post that I have entered the past few days are projects that I am considering for some of the future classes at Scrapbookers Paradise. This is one of them.

These cards are inspired by the colors of one of the cards under the blog entry of Becca Feeken titled Grow in Grace. I just loved the colors, and will more than likely use the color combination again in the future.

It was the first time for me to use a foil paper. The silver foil really adds to the visual effect of the card even though there is only a little showing. The gray, silver, taupe and silver patterned, and mauve paper combination, I just love.

After some thought on the project, I decided that I to have some all purpose cards to grab would be a good thing to have. As I thought about it, it occurred to me that I could just make tags that I could stamp sentiments on to and assign a purpose to the card that way. It is much easier to make a tag quickly than put together a whole card.
The close up just shows the layers using Pop dots or foam tape, which I prefer.I'd be interested in hearing what you prefer and why.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

I have used this color combination earlier this year in preparing for a Father's Day card class coming up in June. So when I came across the Embellish Magazine Color Challenge I just had to do it. I love the color combination, but there doesn't seem much call to use it. So I'm challenging myself to see if I can create a more feminine card with these colors.

I came across a leaf embossed green Bassill paper that I have had for a while and thought that this was a great opportunity to use it. As I pulled out supplies that might work for this project I thought that if I wanted to feminize these colors that perhaps a more contemporary look with lots of sparkle and bling would do the trick.I found a more modern flourish that would lend itself nicely to adding green rhinestones. I stamped it with black ink and heat embossed it with clear powder to give it a very shiny look adding to that 'bling' look. The ribbon flower is fiddly work when working with 1/8th inch ribbon. I made a stitch every 1 and 3/4 inches and glued the black button in the center. Now, for the black butterfly! I wish that you could actually see it because the photo does not do it justice. I cut the butterfly from black cardstock using the Cuttlebug butterfly die and embossed it with one of the corresponding folders. After spraying adhesive on it I then applied Martha Stewart's Black Onyx glitter. Wow! Is it ever incredible. I recently decided that when I make a card that I would make at least four at the same time - if time doesn't allow putting them all together, then at least I've made myself a kit and I can more quickly put the card together later. In the following photo you can see that I made some envelopes for these 4 & 1/4 inch square cards - they have a black pattern inside.

If you want a closer look just click on the image. Hope you all had as much fun on this challenge as I did.

Friday, May 21, 2010

This project turned out to be one of my favorites. I have always loved the pale blue greens with antique gold. And, I fell in love with the new Tim Holtz Vintage Photo ink that I borrowed from my daughter. Even the frame is covered with it. The frame is cut and embossed using Spellbinders rectangles and squares. Next I stamped PTI's flourishes with Versa Mark and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. Then using the Vintage Photo ink I blended it into the paper and rubbed it off from the gold. The Butterfly - which is showing black in the photo- is actually gold embossed (which you will see in the close up following) on the darker blue green paper and cut out using scissors.

The pale blue green cardstock also has been stamped with the flourishes and heat embossed gold along the sides. Each layer has been aged along all the edges, again, using Vintage Photo.

You may see that I made more than one card. This is because recently I decided that when I make a card, that I would prepare for four cards, and if I don't have the time to put them all together, at least I have them ready to quickly put together when needed.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Turns out that my daughter had the camera and I couldn't enter 2S4Y #52 in time.
My daughter challenged me to come up with something for the Color Cue {4} challenge. I had earlier chosen not to participate because the colors seem to suggest a bay boy card - I thought. But then Dana chose to participate and then challenged me to try. I decided to make my oldest son a Father's day card and use another challenge- a sketch challenge, choosing the sketch form 2S4Y. Could I make these colors work for a Father's Day card?

My son was a teen during the 'grunge' era, and being a Dad, knows about trying to make ends meet. For these reasons I thought it would be fun to give his card a 'grunge' or frayed 'make ends meet' look and distressed the edges of the paper pieces; all except for the navy Labels 13 frame and the pale yellow card base.

I used the faux stitch technique by piercing the paper about 3/16 to 1/8 inch from the edge of the paper every 1/8 inch. Using a white gel pen I connected the pierced holes. This looks very much like you used a sewing machine. I used string to embellish - again a 'poor man's' or 'grunge' look. The sentiment, from PTI's Father Knows Best, fittingly matches the theme of the card.

As for the colors working for a Fathers Day card.... I guess it works. The card base is a pale yellow and the stamped fern image behind the sentiment is also a pale yellow. This is the only yellow in the project. My son won't care because partly he is a man,but mostly because I made it for him,and it's the thought that counts for him.

Notice the distressed layers with faux stitching. It was worth the work.

I thought that it would be fun to base a class on a color, so I came up with "Shades of Blue" for May 10th. In completing the cards, I figured that it would make a nice gift set and decided to include a card box. The cards are A2 (4 1/4"x 5 1/2") in size. I also kept in mind that these cards should be mailable so I did not do very much pop-dotting.

This anniversary card uses the technique of ink resist via heat embossing, applying ink and rubbing off the eccess ink over the embossed surface.

This "Thank You" card uses some Cuttlebug embossing and more Spellbinders.

In the creation of this card I used:

-Cuttlebug and special edition Checkerboard folder
-Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangle and Standard Rectangle
-Fiskar's Apron Lace border punch (which is now broken so I may hve to use a different border puch for the class kits)

-MSE - True Friends (stemmed leaves)

-Versa Magic Sea Breeze and Clear embossing powder
-ribbon

This next card uses both the negative and positive parts of cut flower. When curving the flower petals it reveals the background color.

I used Cricut's Plantin Schoolbook cartridge to cut the flower out of the white cardstock. However, you could use a flower punch, or a die cut.

I also used:

-Cuttlebug Swiss Dot folder

-Liquid Pearls - Lemon Yellow

-Versa Magic Aegean Blue ink

-Fiskar's Apron Lace Border Punch (which is now broken and I may have to substitute with another border punch)

-Crop-a-dile Corner Chomper

-Yellow button and white embroidery floss

-Ribbon

This "Get Well" card I used a stamp on cardstock to create a background pattern and then cut circle using Spellbinders Standard Circles.Using the die I pierced holes about every 1/8th inch and with a gel pen connected the holes to create a stitching effect. I used the ruler to do the same around the edge of the card.

In the stamped flowers I used a clear Spica pen to fill in which darkened the color of the paper slightly and gave a bit of sparkle to the flower.

And for the card gift box, you may have seen this on our blog before. I just love this box and it is easy to make. I've even adjusted this pattern to fit different sized and thicknesses of cards.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

I am really loving the colors in the current Color Cue challenge!My boss broke his leg playing hockey last night, so I threw together a quick card this afternoon with these colors in mind!I used PTI's Scattered Showers Additions and Versamark ink on PTI's Spring Rain cardstock to create the raindrop patterned paper. The border is just gel pen and to do it over, I would have done paper-piercing and white gel pen "fake stitching." The focal point is popped up over PTI's Enchanted Evening grosgrain ribbon. I should have use the saddle stitch ribbon (which would've tied nicely in with the "fake stitching" that I wish I had done!). The sentiment is from PTI's Autumn Abundance and is set in Fillable Frames #3 using Enchanted Evening ink. The sun is also from Scattered Showers Additions and is stamped in Lemon Tart ink. I think it looks so cheery!The inside of the card is one of my fav sentiments from On My Couch (Additions). It's all stamped in Enchanted Evening ink. My husband thinks the inside would not be to a man's taste (I'm paraphrasing here!) but I'm hoping he'll find it funny.

This set of cards is a little out of my usual combination of colors and style. It kind of gives off a modern Victorian look.

The many layers and color combination makes this an eye catching card. The nontraditional black centered cameo with white faux stitching is more contemporary. The stamped image is heat embossed with clear powder on black ink and colored in with copics. The rhinestone bling adds another contemporary feature. As an added feature I created square envelopes that have a cream and pink inside.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

My mom gave me this patterned paper and I was excited to find something to go with all these colors! After going through my entire collection of PTI cardstock, I decided on Plum Pudding. I put a piece through my Cuttlebug a total of 4 times using the Swiss Dots folder to double the number of embossed dots. Make sure to click on the picture to get a better look!

Next, I got my first chance to use PTI's new felt and scalloped border die (medium). It was so easy to use and made such a nice embellishment! The ribbon over top is Spring Moss Topnotch Twill that I made a single stripe on with a YG63 (Pea Green) copic marker to tie it into the paper some more. I can't wait to use this technique some more in the future! It's so easy and adds so much!

The buttons on the ribbon are PTI's Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores, Plum Pudding and Lavender Moon. The twine is PTI's Rustic Cream.

The mat is Lavender Moon and I experimented with having it show only on the top and bottom... Hm. The card base is of unknown origin.

I didn't include a sentiment on the front but did add some adhesive rhinestone embellishments to add a final touch.

The interior was stamped with leaves from Turning a New Leaf in Spring Moss; the sentiment from Giga Guide Lines in Plum Pudding. I really love how this turned out! (That copic is from the front of the card; I just used it to hold the card open!)

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

With all the fantastic tools out there available to us paper crafters, I never thought that I would again be using my old scrapbooking scissors that I purchased over 15 years ago and have been sitting in a tin collecting dust. But in the making of a Mothers Day card for my daughter I came across a tutorial on making paper flowers that require their use, and out they came. I just had to try making them. While I was at it, I decided to make three cards at the same time, each for a different purpose. I also decided to challenge myself a little more in the color combinations I chose. The most unusual turned out to be the yellow, turquoise, and pink Mothers Day card. I was thinking sunshine when I came up with the combination. The Cuttlebug embossed paper is gently inked and all the sentiments where heat embossed with the background image being a second stamping over the sentiment.

Any how, I did have a lot of fun making those wonderful paper flowers. I adjusted the sizes as I made more. I also found that if you don't make a real full flower you have room for a pearl or jewel for the center of the flower. I hope that you have as much fun making these flowers as I did. I'm considering preparing a class for Scrapbookers where I can teach how to make them.

This is my first experience using a PTI impression plate and I love the effect! Unfortunately, I discovered that the embossing pad kit I got from them differed from the one used in the tutorial and listed on the site. It is in the midst of investigation by PTI's wonderful customer service (Addendum: The manufacturer changed the sizes without notifying PTI. Apparently, it shouldn't affect anything.). The plate curved a bit after running it through my Cuttlebug and I was told that this was normal.

I blended some distress ink over the impressed woodgrain image.

I die-cut the tag twice and then cut and stamped the calendar and sentiment on the overlay. I circled the 17 for my husband's birthday. I used the Big Bite and a couple eyelets on the ends of the tag.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

I've been busy and haven't posted this class project as soon after the class we had on April 22 as I would have liked to. This project includes two very different cards for Mothers Day. The Bird card, a more traditional card however, is much too thick to fit into a regular card envelope, so I created one of the card boxes that you've seen on an older posting.

For this Mothers Day card I thought to use the larger bird to represent "Mom" and the small bird to represent the giver of the card - the child. (No matter how old we get, we still are our Mom's child)

I used Spellbinders Labels One, Labels Four, and Bird shapes. The Labels One pieces I cut in half and spread them apart just enough so that they would be seen from behind the Labels Four cuts.

The next card is a combination card and mini album created from two 10 1/2" circles.

The text print flowers are created from the pages of a child's storybook using Spellbinders Scalloped circles. Layer about 5 or 6 together, pierce in center with a paper piercer and insert a small/tiny brad. Taking each layer one at a time bunch up and crinkle up to the center. When each layer has been crinkled, spread the layers to allow placement of a pop-dot covered with glitter on one side onto the top of the brad.(I need to add a photo of the card closed so that you may see the flowers on the front).

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Woops! I see I still haven't taken the promised photo. Sorry, I still have to do that. I am, however, adding the template that I created for my class, in case you wish to try this out. (You may have to click on it so that you may view it larger)